Pumpherston and Uphall Station CPS Blog
A place for news, information and sharing learning from PUSCPS
Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun at the Christmas extravaganza today. It was a great success. Congratulations to the choir for singing so sweetly and starting the afternoon off in style. We sent a roving reporter round the busy stalls to record some of the activity for the Blog.
More details, including a total for the funds raised, to follow soon.
Scottish Power has confirmed electrical failure in the area. Due to this situation the school had to close today (Thursday 5th December). The emergency school number is 01506435353.
We had great fun on Tuesday when Forth One presenters Boogie and Arlene came with their producer to record in our school. We are one of the very few schools in West Lothian to be chosen for this feature on the Breakfast show. We sang Jingle Bell Rock, then we all wished Forth One listeners a Merry Christmas, and got the chance to sing ‘Boogie in the Morning’ jingle too! Then Boogie spoke to some of our children about Christmas, asking what they like about it, and they each shared a festive joke.
The recordings made with Boogie and Arlene will be broadcast on Radio Forth One (97.3 FM) on Friday 13th December at 7:40 am.
We were delighted to welcome so many parents and carers to our learning showcase event held on Wednesday 27th November. We know that parents are keen to support their child’s learning and we were glad to share the approaches used to develop reading from Nursery to Primary 7. There was a short presentation about reading given by Miss Speirs, then the children shared their learning with our guests and showed how reading skills are taught in our school. There was an amazing turnout with over 100 visitors on the night. Thank you to everyone who joined us, it was great to see you there.
This week Primary 4 have been learning all about money. We discussed the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ when spending money and then worked in groups to decide which purchases were the most important. Items like a car generated lots of interesting discussion in class as some groups decided to categorise it as a ‘want’, because you could use public transport instead, whilst others argued that it may be a ‘need’ for some people, especially if you lived in the country or had to drive for work.
Next week we will developing our money skills in Maths and learning about the importance of budgeting and saving.
To celebrate the end of our topic on the Celts, Primary 4 had their very own Celtic feast in the classroom.
During this term, we learned that the Celts had to get all of their food from the land by growing crops, picking wild berries or hunting for wild animals like boar and foxes. Unfortunately Miss Cave couldn’t find any wild boar at supermarket but we enjoyed eating porridge, oatcakes and cheese together instead. We also tried some nettle tea as the Celts would often collect wild plants and herbs too.
Lots of people say to us “What a wonderful school to work in”; “What a lovely building you have”; “What a difference to the old school” and “How much nicer it must be to learn in such a lovely school”. All of these things are true but they don’t mention the biggest reason why we are so lucky and that is – the support that we continue to receive from the communities of Pumpherston and Uphall Station. We couldn’t do it without you.
This was especially true last week during our first Coffee Morning for MacMillan Cancer Care and our Bake Off Competition. The entries to the competition were amazing and the judges had a very hard job, not least due to the sheer number of entries. The quality of entries and the time and care that the children, and their parents, had put into them was absolutely amazing. I am sure many of the adults that saw them could not have done such a fantastic job, so well done to everyone who entered. The winners will be announced during our whole school singing practice on Tuesday 1st October.
The coffee morning itself was made possible partly due to the number of donations we received of home baking, tea, coffee, sugar, napkins, juice, cups etc all of which meant more money was raised for our nominated school charity of MacMillan Cancer Care.
A fantastic time was had by the pupils, the staff and, most importantly, members of our local community who came and joined us throughout the morning. Some people came for the whole morning, others for a short time. Mrs Andison, the event organiser, kept every class to their time slot and made everything run smoothly.
At the end of the day we raised an enormous £707.17 for MacMillan Cancer Care and everyone who was part of the event had a great time.
Every year West Lothian Council host a Walking Week in which all residents are encouraged to get out and walk. There are a range of activities during that week for the community to get involved in and one of these is especially for schools. In the past we have had welly walks and odd sock walks among others. This year it was a ‘Onesie Walk’ which saw many of the children and staff coming to school in onesies and walking in the community. Due to the time of year we altered our walk slightly to be a onesie and welly walk and the children were encouraged to wear onesies and/or wellies to join in the fun. It was a great day and everyone had a good time and were given the opportunity to explore parts of the grounds around the school that they had perhaps not visited before. I wonder what next year’s theme for the walk will be?
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